Test your trivia knowledge

1. Do you know the “claim to fame” of W. Hunt, J. Walker, O. North and G. Nissen?

2. Way back in the depths of time, an American named Clarence Crane was trying to come up with a new candy that could be easily made in the hot Ohio summers when it was too warm to make chocolate. What candy product did he invent?

3. What do all these inventions have in common: the snowblower, the zipper, five-pin bowling, the paint roller, the international standard time system, the Jolly Jumper, basketball, the table-top hockey game, the Trivial Pursuit board-game, the telephone, the electronic organ, instant mashed potatoes, the McIntosh apple, Pablum, frozen fish, kerosene oil, the wirephoto, AM radio and the alternating current radio tube, the space shuttle's Canadarm, the Abdomenizer, the gas mask, the tuck-in-handle beer carton, the “cobalt bomb” for cancer treatment, the variable-pitch propeller, the hydrofoil, the Laser sailboat, and the Blackberry?

Famous names

1. This pianist claimed that he invented “jazz” in 1902.

2. Who was Francis Gary Powers?

3. Who originally provided the voice for Mickey Mouse?

4. What actress reportedly told the press that her best asset was her back?

Food

1. What was the original name of today’s “potato chip?”

2. How many eggs does the average hen lay in a year?

3. Which of the following has the least fat?

• A broccoli and cheese quiche with a salad.

• A main course Caesar salad.

• A large muffin.

• A steak dinner.

4. Can you think of any towns or cities named after food?

Answers

Inventions:

1. In 1825, W. Hunt owed another man $15 and decided to try to invent something that would help him pay back the money. At that time, $15 was a great deal of money. Anyway, he got out his tools, started fiddling with some wire and actually came up with an invention. He showed this device to a man who gave him $400 for the complete rights to all future sales. Hunt had sold away the rights to the first safety pin.

And what about the other inventors? Well, J. Walker invented the first matches in 1827. O. North invented the coat hanger in 1869 and G. Nissen invented the trampoline in 1926.

2. Crane invented Life Savers. Perhaps the product was not a huge immediate success because he sold the rights in 1913 for about $3,000. One of the later investors in the company put up $1,500 and eventually sold his shares in 1926 for over $3 million.

3. I’m sure you easily guessed that these are all Canadian inventions.

Famous names:

1. The pianist who claimed he invented jazz in 1902 was Jelly Roll Morton.

2. Francis Gary Powers was the American pilot of the U-2 spy plane shot down over Russia in 1960.

3. The original voice of Mickey Mouse was done by Walt Disney from 1928 to 1946.

4. Rachel Welch.

Food:

1. A hotel chef in Saratoga Springs, New York, created the first chips accidently. After they caught on, he called them — logically — Saratoga chips.

2. The average hen lays 242 eggs per year.

3. It will probably surprise you to learn that they decrease in fat as they are listed; that is, the steak dinner has the least fat content.

4. Towns or cities named after food? Well, let's see. There’s Hamburg, Germany, and Buffalo, New York. If you're into eating Buffalo.